Craigslist Profits

Unleashed

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 - Earning a Living from Craigslist

Chapter 2 - How to Use Craigslist in Order to Earn a Profit

Chapter 3 - Some Tips to Help You Get Started

Chapter 4 - Ways of Making Money through Craigslist

Chapter 5 - How to Post Your Advertisement on Craigslist

Conclusion

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Introduction

Today, Craigslist is one of the most well known of all online urban communities

on the web. It allows people to place free classified adverts relating to various

subjects, as well as having forums where people can discuss various topics.

Craigslist was founded by Craig Newmark from the San Francisco Bay Area in

1995. Then it became incorporated in 1999. Since its incorporation as of

November 2006, there were over 450 cities where a Craigslist has been

established.

The business now operates with a team of 24 people, and the only way they make

any revenue today is through the job adverts paid for in selected cities around the

States. Ads placed by companies in the San Francisco Bay Area cost $75, while

those placed by companies or businesses in New York, Los Angeles, San Diego,

Boston, Seattle and Washington DC will cost them $25 for each advert placed.

Also today, a real estate broker will need to pay $10 for any apartment listings

they place on Craigslist for New York.

Today, this site is receiving over 500,000 new job listings each month, and so

makes it one of the top job boards in the world today. The classified adverts that

are placed on this site range from more traditional ones where people are able to

buy and sell goods, to community announcements…even personal adverts or

erotic services are being provided through this site.

In its early years, most of the postings placed on the Craigslist were submitted by

its founder, and were generally dealing with social events that were of interest to

software and internet developers who lived and worked in the San Francisco area.

However, as more and more people learned about this site, it began to grow at an

extremely high rate. Certainly, as more and more subscribers began to use the

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site, so the number of postings to it also began to grow as well.

Certainly those people who were looking to fill technical positions found this list

to be a great way of reaching those with the necessary skills that they were

searching for. Because of this, the demand for a section dedicated to jobs was

created. Plus, the demand by the lists’ users for more categories to be able to post

and search under also began to grow as well. It was at this time that more and

more of the sites users asked for a web interface to be set up.

It was through the help of various volunteers and contractors that such a website

user interface was created for each different mailing list category to be found on

the list. As the domain required a name, Craig Newman first registered

“craigslist.org” and then followed it up later on with “craigslist.com”, which

helped to prevent the name from being used for some other purpose.

Certainly if you were to search on Craigslist today, the most popular of all the

forums is the one known as the “Erotic Forum”. This forum is now often used by

law enforcement agencies for decoy operations, and Craigslist co-operates in any

way it can to help prevent its users from selling drugs, sex or stolen property

through its listings.

Through this book, we are going to look at the ways in which a person can legally

profit from using Craigslist. We will discuss the ways in which a person can set

up a business in their own home, and which will provide them with a chance to

earn an additional income or their main form of income.

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Chapter 1 – Earning a Living from Craigslist

You may find it difficult to believe, but it is easily and possible for someone to

earn a living from Craigslist. As more and more people have begun to realize,

there are a number of different opportunities available to those who are willing to

put in a little hard work so they can earn a living online.

For beginners, it is important that you have learned everything that there is that

one needs to know about online communities like Craigslist. Plus, learning how

to market themselves, as well as their products or skills, to those who might be

interested in what they have to offer, has now become business.

The great thing about offering your services online, compared to providing them

in the more conventional manner, is that you are setting no cap on just how much

you can earn. But using this method does not mean that you will earn lots,

mainly it will depend on what you are offering to others.

There are 2 ways in which a person can earn a living through Craigslist. They

may decide to offer their services or products in the following ways:-

on a contract basis.

small business owner would.

But there are many individuals who are using Craigslist in order to find a job (and

thus, build their business).

In this particular chapter of our book, we will look at the way independent

contractors and small business owners can utilize the services that Craigslist

provides to their subscribers.

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Independent Contractors

This is an excellent place for such people to offer their services, as well as being

able to respond to adverts placed by others. As more and more companies, both

big and small, look to outsourcing certain sections of their business, then there

are plenty of individuals who have suddenly realized the advantages to be gained

from these outsourcing opportunities as and when they arise.

These people are able to place adverts for the services that they provide, as well as

being given the chance to respond to those adverts that they see where companies

are seeking employees on a contract basis to provide the services that they can

offer.

Today, you will find a section on Craigslist which is dedicated to offering services

to their subscribers. Under this section, you will find various sub sections where

a number of different services are now being offered. So the great thing is that

you, as an independent contractor, are able to place your posting under the

category that is most appropriate to the service that you can provide, and this will

reach those that you are intending to target.

Plus, if you can not find a category that provides for your particular service, then

you can also use the small business advertisement section in order for you to

advertise your services. But you may find that it is a little more difficult for you to

reach your target audience through the use of this category on Craigslist.

Many of those independent contractors who advertise their services on Craigslist

have found that they have gained more business because they have responded to

advertisements placed by those people, businesses and companies who are

looking for contract based employees.

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When searching for a position using Craigslist, a contractor can start their search

by typing in a particular location. Then they can start to browse through the

various different jobs that come up for that location by category.

The best and easiest way for anyone to find a contract job on this site is through

the use of the search feature and by placing a tick in the contract box, which will

then ensure that this term is used as part of the search requirements you request

of the system. By doing this, you are assured that every position result provided

to you will only be ones that are of a contract nature.

Small Business Owners

They can utilize this list in order that they may reach a much larger target

audience, which will then help their business to grow. There are a couple of

advantages to be had from using Craigslist, and these are as follows:-

appropriate category on the site. This can be extremely effective, as it

now receives more than 4 billion page views each month, so there is

potential for any small business to be able to reach a much larger and

more potentially lucrative audience than they would using any other

method of advertisement.

can help them to generate even greater profits for their business. But

they should be wary of how they use promotional postings on these

forums, as some people may mistake them for being spam. There is a

very distinct way in which a person can post information regarding

their business to these forums so that they are found informative by

the readers, instead of it looking like spam, which is solely used to

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promote a business and nothing else.

Unfortunately, those businesses who use spamming are not only likely to find

that they get overlooked by those in the forum, but may well find that

Craigslist moderators will actually delete whatever it is that they have posted.

They could even take much more severe action against that business, banning

them from using their listings altogether.

Chapter 2 – How to Use Craigslist in Order to Earn a

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Profit

The great thing is that Craigslist can be used in a number of different ways for a

person to earn a profit from it. Certainly some of the most popular ways that

people are now using this particular site is to advertise their product or services,

to meet people or just to find a job.

In this particular chapter, we will take a closer look at three ways a person can

use Craigslist.

Advertising

This is probably one of the best ways for a person to utilize what Craigslist has to

offer. Certainly, many people who are looking to make a profit from either a

product, or service that they are selling, will turn to this particular site for one of

two reasons.

The two main reasons why people are so keen to use Craigslist is the costs to

advertise (extremely affordable) and they know that this site comes with a large

pre-existing audience.

In fact, the only charges that Craigslist makes when it comes to advertising on

this particular site, is for postings relating to job advertisements, and only in

certain market areas, and for housing advertisements that have been placed in

one city (New York). So advertising your product or service on this site is actually

free.

Because Craigslist is now receiving around 10 million visitors to it each month,

and these are then generating around about 4 billion page views a month, you

will find that, by placing an advertisement here, it will help you to reach a much

larger target audience than you would normally do through other methods of

advertising your business (and, as already mentioned, at a much more affordable

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price for your advertisements).

Meet People

Today, this section of Craigslist is devoted to providing individuals with the

chance to post or read advertisements from others that are seeking plutonic or

romantic relationships, no matter what their sexual orientation is.

However, only those over the age of 18 are allowed access to this particular

section of Craigslist. Plus, other restrictions have been placed upon this section

above the normal restrictions required of those who set up websites on the

internet today.

One of these restrictions, and probably the most important of all, is that you may

not impersonate someone else when placing an advertising posting at this site.

As the site has a number of different discussion forums available to its

subscribers, it provides people with a chance to meet like minded souls.

The diversity of users is part of what makes Craigslist such an attractive place for

advertising. There are sure to be others interested in the subject of your product

or service…you simply have to be able to find them.

Finding Jobs

Many people who have come to Craigslist are often searching for a new job, or

looking for a change in their career. This section of the site is quite extensive, and

all jobs posted are broken down into various different categories.

By doing this, it makes the search for a particular position much easier for the

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user to find. Plus, the search features on this site allow the user to search for a

job by using particular words or phrases. They can also search for those jobs by

using a certain set of criteria in relation to the job that they are interested in.

They can look for things such as contract positions, internships, part time, as well

as full time positions, and those positions available in non profit organizations.

This section of the site also allows the user to post their CV (resume) for

consideration. It is not as well organized as the rest of the site, but those who

know how to write a CV which is going to catch a potential employer’s eye, will do

well using this section of the Craigslist.

Chapter 3 – Some Tips to Help You get Started

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You will soon discover that there are lots to be found on Craigslist, including both

new, and second hand merchandise. But in this chapter, we will look at some tips

which will help you to get started using this site, and help you to earn a profit.

The first thing that you need to do is create an account. Although not required, it

is certainly beneficial, as posting items to the site is much simpler, and you will

not need to wait for an email to arrive before you confirm that you want to submit

a posting.

Open an Account

Also, by opening an account, it allows you to view and edit any listings you have

posted, as well as view any of your old postings as well.

Next, you need to go the city where you are residing. Today, Craigslist offers

listings in 300 cities in not just the USA, but in another 50 countries around the

world also. All you need to do is key in your City name in order to go the

Craigslist section for that area.

Include a Picture

When posting anything for sale to Craigslist, ensure that you include pictures.

Many people miss this option, but you will see one when creating your listing that

says “Add/Edit Images”. All you need to do is have the images held either on

your computer, or digital camera, and then you can upload them to Craigslist.

Once uploaded, a copy of the image will be held on the system while the posting

remains active.

Unfortunately, for those who do not include a picture in the listing, people will

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often ask if the seller has one (which means a lot more work and hassle emailing

pictures to interested parties).

Also, they will generally move on to the next listing, or those that already have

images with their posting or are willing to provide one when asked.

Look at other Craigslist Postings

If you look on the left hand side of the site, you will see a “best of” link, and these

are the postings which have been nominated by the users as being interesting,

funny or just down right crazy.

Unfortunately, none of these are endorsed by Craigslist, so be wary when looking

at them, as they may not be appropriate for children to be looking at (or even

some adults for that matter!).

But by looking at them yourself, it may provide you with a way to show your

service or product off to its best advantage, and help you to earn additional profit

for your business.

Certainly, by keeping these tips in mind, you should be advertising your services

or products much more effectively on Craigslist.

Chapter 4 – Ways of Making Money through

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Craigslist

Craigslist is an online community where its users are able to buy or sell items, as

well as looking for jobs or even meet and find new friends. It also allows its users

to exchange information. This has now become the most complete site around

the world, not just in the USA, offering free classified ads to those that peruse its

pages.

Currently, Craigslist is averaging around 4 billion page views a month, and so it

can offer those who want them, a wealth of financial opportunities, especially if

they are willing to capitalize on this site’s popularity. So if you are really keen to

set up your own online business which can be run from the comfort of your own

home, then it is advisable that you start looking for a service or product which

you can advertise on Craigslist, and just see what results you achieve.

So let’s take a look at some ways that you can make money through using

Craigslist.

Sell products that are tangible on your Website

It can either be through a special offer or a sale. But all you need to do is go to

the right category on Craigslist, and then submit a posting in relation to what it is

you are offering for sale, along with the price that you are offering it at. Certainly,

the better the deal you can provide to those visiting the site, then the more

visitors it will bring to yours.

Selling products or services on eBay

Unfortunately, using this method in order to make money could be a problem if

you do not have sufficient goods to sell. Plus, placing any sort of listing on eBay

is going to cost you. However, with Craigslist if you go to the “for sale” and then

“free” section in various categories, you will be amazed at just what people are

giving away. You can then get these goods for yourself, and if you want, start

selling them on eBay, and make your profit from Craigslist in that way.

Selling Affiliate Products

If you are looking for a way to earn money at home by use of the internet, one

way is to get involved in affiliate marketing. However, you will need to read the

terms of service in relation to affiliate marketing on Craigslist, as this is not

normally allowed. But there are ways in which you can either suggest or

recommend to those that use Craigslist, in order for them to purchase the affiliate

products that you are offering.

As there are so many people now turning to Craigslist in order to look for

products and services that are being offered to them, then you should not miss

out if you are looking for a way to earn a living from home through using the

internet. All the users of this site are highly targeted (and already categorized for

your convenience) and will be keen to find what it is that they want. So the

sooner you get your Craigslist campaign under way, then the sooner you can start

watching your profits climb.

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Chapter 5 – How to Post Your Advertisement on

Craigslist

Posting your advertisement is really quite easy and straightforward to do. Plus,

the other great thing is that any advert you do post here, unless it relates to a job

listing (for certain major cities), it is free.

There are actually a couple of different ways in which you can post your adverts

on to the site, and below we will take you through each one step by step.

First, you need to find the city you want to post your advert in. Actually finding

your city, or the one in which you want to post your advert, is very easy indeed.

On the right hand side of the page you will see the following list subdivided out as

follows:-

So, say for example you live in the United States, and then you just click on the

state and the area which is closest to where you are. However, you may find that

if you live in one of the major US cities, such as New York, Washington DC, Las

Vegas etc., then it is probably already showing up on the home page of this site.

However if you live in another country, then finding the area that is closest to you

is just as easy…just click on the country where you live, and then search through

until you find a location that is close to where you reside.

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The next step is where you need to find the category that you want to post your

advert in. So if, for example, you want to place an ad in the small biz ads

category, you will need to go into services, and then go to the link that says “sm

biz ads” and click on it.

Now you have entered the category where you are interested in posting your

advert, you need to click on the post link button. This link can be found in the

top right hand corner of the page.

You will now be presented with a list of all the categories in the services section

again, and you should immediately click on the link which says “small biz ads”.

Once this has been clicked, you will find that you can actually start to post your

ad. Below we will take a look at just how this looks.

1. Posting Title

This is required, and you should make it not only very descriptive, but also as

catchy as possible. You want to draw the attention of those using Craigslist to

what you are offering. There are thousands of ads…make sure yours doesn’t get

lost in the sea!

2. Specific Location

Although you do not need to enter any information into this section if you do not

want to, you should at least put in the area where you are located.

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3. Price

This is located right next to the location box, and again it is up to you whether

you enter any information into this or not.

4. Posting Description

This is where the main part of your advertisement is placed, and will tell those

reading it what they will be getting, and the benefits they can gain from it. It all

depends on what you are offering, and what your intentions are in relation to the

ad that you have placed, as to how descriptive it is.

So if you happen to be selling a product, then it is best that you provide the best

description possible to those reading the advert.

However, if you are just trying to get them to come to your own website, or to

click on an affiliate link that you have, then maybe just providing them with a few

teaser lines is the best option, and will get them going to your website in order to

learn more about what you have to offer.

Again, be very careful using a technique like this, as it is something that *could*

get you banned. Be creative, and find ways to work within the confines of the

rules that Craigslist has in place.

The final part of the process of placing an advert on Craigslist is to input your

email address. It is vital that you input an email address which you use regularly,

and so will be checking on a regular basis. Also, make sure that the one you input

is valid, because at the end of the process, Craigslist will send an email to you in

order to finalize the listing that you have posted.

It is important to note that any postings you make will not go live until you have

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responded to the email sent from the site.

Adding Images

Not all categories allow you to add an image. For those that do, you will see that

there is a button which says “Add/Edit Images”.

By clicking on this link, you are then able to gain access to the locations on your

computer where your images are stored, and find the one that is most

appropriate to your posting.

By adding an image to your advert, you are potentially increasing the number of

click through that your ad will receive. Even if you are just using a generic

picture that you have obtained from your website, it is best if you post this as

opposed to nothing at all.

Permissions Box

This box gives permission to others to contact you with regard to other

commercial interests, products or services related to what you are offering. It is

optional whether you allow others permission to contact you or not.

After completing all the sections above, you will then come to a button which says

“continue”. You need to click on this, as it will show you the advert you have just

produced. It allows you to review it at this stage and make any changes to it.

If you do need to make any changes, then just click on the “Edit” button and carry

out the alterations as you need to. As soon as you are satisfied with what you

have produced, you then need to type in the verification code provided in the box

below, and then click on the “continue” button again.

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As soon as you have clicked this button, you will go on to the next page, where the

terms and conditions relating to placement of ads, and below these are a 2

buttons. One asks you to “accept the terms of use” and the other asks whether

you wish to “decline the terms of use”. However, in order for your listing to be

accepted, you must accept the terms and conditions of use button.

Upon clicking on this button you will then be taken to a page that asks you to

check your email so that you may finalize the posting. So, as soon as you are able

to, go to your email address (the one you provided at the beginning of the

process) and by clicking on the link, it then allows you to either Post, Edit or

Delete the listing that you have just entered.

By following the simple instructions provided in the email that has been sent to

you, you will soon be on your way to placing your first advertisement, and then

start to earn from using Craigslist in the future.

After a few minutes, your advert will then appear live on the site, and once you

have done a few of these postings, you will start to wonder just what all the fuss

was about in the beginning when you first started.

Conclusion

Certainly many people have now heard the name Craigslist, but they are still

unsure as to just what this site can be used for.

However today, this site is now receiving over 4 billion page views each month, so

there do seem to be some people who have a better understanding of what it is,

and the types of services that it can offer.

But essentially, Craigslist is very similar in many ways to the classified sections of

newspapers, where people are able to post or respond to advertisements within

them.

However with Craigslist, a person is provided with a number of different

advertisements, all online, and which can be found in various different

categories, so it makes it much easier for those searching for information on

products or services to find the advertisements that have been posted to it.

Today, many people are now using Craigslist as a way for them to earn either an

additional salary, or as their main salary. They can do this through a number of

different ways, but the main two we have been looking at through this book

relates to:-

1. Promoting a business.

In fact, in recent moves, Craigslist has become one of the most popular ways to

date for a business, whether it is large or small, to promote itself. No matter the

size of the business, each ad that they place (unless it happens to relate to a job)

will be completely free of charge.

Any business owner can place their advertisement in the services section of

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Craigslist, and this section is then broken down into a number of different

categories in order to allow them to place their advert in the most appropriate

location, and the one in which it is likely to reach their target audience.

Although there is a small business section, it may well be worth your while

placing your adverts in those categories which are best suited to what you are

offering, rather than in a general category. By doing this, you are more likely to

reach those people that are interested in what you have to offer.

It is also vital that you take part in discussion forums, as this is a great place

where you can provide insightful information, and provide people with accurate

responses to questions that they may have raised. It also allows you to provide a

link in this section where you can then help to drive even more traffic to your

website.

However, it is important that, when taking part in such forums, you avoid making

your postings in such a way that people will look at them and think that they are

spam (in other words, provide no use aside from blatant self promotion), which

will simply steer them away from what you are trying to provide to them.

You may well find that those who mediate for Craigslist could well remove your

posting from the site completely, and if they perceive that you are spamming too

much, may remove you from being a subscriber to their services.

As well as being able to promote your business, the other way many people are

now earning a profit from Craigslist is through selling items on it.

You are allowed to sell both new and used items through this site, and unlike with

eBay, you can post a number of different items to it, and you will not be charged a

single cent for posting them to this site.

As with eBay, this site allows you to post your items into various different

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categories, and allows you to supply a description of the item and how much it

will cost to purchase. Plus, it also allows people to place adverts for items that

they want, and again, these can be placed at no cost to you whatsoever.

However, when it comes to posting adverts for items for sale, there are some

restrictions in place to those items which can not be sold through Craigslist. This

includes firearms or pornographic items. Anyone trying to make their money in

this way will soon find themselves on the wrong side of the law.

Craigslist works closely with law enforcement agencies of all types to help ensure

that the site is not being used for illegal purposes.

Overall, if you are seriously considering ways of making a profit from running an

online business, or are already running one and wish to expand, then it may well

be worth your while taking a more in depth look at just what Craigslist can offer

you.